{"id":38389,"date":"2017-07-25T06:30:16","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T13:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=38389"},"modified":"2017-07-25T03:04:16","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T10:04:16","slug":"an-inside-look-at-whartons-mba-at-the-2017-aigac-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/an-inside-look-at-whartons-mba-at-the-2017-aigac-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"An Inside Look at Wharton’s MBA at the 2017 AIGAC Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Looking<\/a><\/p>\n

Last month, during the 2017 AIGAC (Association of International Graduate Application Consultants) conference in San Francisco, my consultants, colleagues, and I spent an illuminating morning visiting Wharton West. Wow. It\u2019s on the Embarcadero by the Bay, next door to Google; it has exposed brick walls and soft gray carpets; quiet, glass-walled cubicles; spa waters in abundance; blue-chip art adorning the hallways and rooms; and loft-like eating space (\u201ccafeteria\u201d doesn\u2019t quite fit the ambience) where on all tables, small vases hold an African daisy. Oh yeah, and school.<\/p>\n

If you attend Wharton<\/a>, you can apply to spend one semester in this paradise. Wharton West largely targets MBA students focused on entrepreneurship and\/or technology, given its location, and it takes full advantage of the regional assets in these areas.<\/p>\n

During our visit, we had the good fortune to hear directly from several Wharton adcom members including Frank DeVecchis, Director of MBA Admissions; Claire Leinweber, Managing Director of Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship; and Barbara Craft, Director of Admissions for Wharton\u2019s EMBA program, about the latest developments in the program and the application evaluation approach.<\/p>\n

A key takeaway for me regarding the academic program was the ever-increasing emphasis on entrepreneurship. And the Wharton West opportunity is one major manifestation of that change. Of course, Wharton has always been a strong all-around program, which included entrepreneurship, but until recently, one would not necessarily think of Wharton first or even second when asked what the top MBA programs are for entrepreneurship. Speaking for myself at least, that\u2019s changed. I\u2019ll now include Wharton when that inquiry arises.<\/p>\n

The Wharton adcom takes a close, thoughtful look at entrepreneurial applicants. For applicants who are presenting themselves already as entrepreneurs, according to Claire, they look at four things:<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> What are you doing?<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Who is helping (employees, investors, partners\u2026)?<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> How is it going (in concrete terms \u2013 how is it growing, how much funding, etc.)?<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> What have you learned?<\/p>\n

Here are further insights about entrepreneurship and the Wharton MBA:<\/p>\n

\u2022 It\u2019s multidisciplinary \u2013 increasingly, non-Wharton students participate with Wharton students for entrepreneurial activities (e.g. engineering, education, etc.).<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cEntrepreneurship\u201d for goals purposes includes people who want to be serial entrepreneurs and\/or start ventures post-MBA (or even during), who want to take a position in a startup or young venture post-MBA, and who want to be entrepreneurial \u201cdisrupters\u201d in an established company. You must specify your entrepreneurial goals<\/a>; don\u2019t just talk about being \u201can entrepreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Increasingly, students are building social impact into entrepreneurship at Wharton.<\/p>\n

\u2022 In five years, Wharton has doubled internships in startups, to about 13%. Employment offers from startups are about 7%.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Career advisement has developed specific guidance for entrepreneurial minded students, and has them consider: personality fit, lifestyle, timing, and ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Current Wharton MBA students can attend Wharton\u2019s \u201cScale School\u201d which is mainly for Wharton entrepreneur alumni. The quarterly sessions are given by alumni and others experienced in the featured domain.<\/p>\n

Frank DeVecchis and his colleagues discussed some other aspects of the admissions process \u2013 here are my distilled notes:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Evaluation is three-pronged, looking at community impact, academic preparation, and professional focus.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The GMAT is less important now; it\u2019s used as a baseline predictor, whereas they see academic prep as more holistic.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tip for the application award section: select those awards that are significant and have impact, don\u2019t write down everything just to show a lot. They\u2019re interested in your judgment about the quality of the award\/recognition, not how many you got.<\/p>\n

\u2022 For extracurriculars, they are looking for and evaluating both breadth and depth.<\/p>\n

\u2022 For the goals essay, no 20-year plan please. They are interested in how and why you chose your future path and how you envision that Wharton can help.<\/p>\n

\u2022 They evaluate for your prospective contribution to a culture of innovation (and this certainly does align with their current entrepreneurship emphasis).<\/p>\n

\u2022 They look for and evaluate alignment between your past experience and your future plans, and, even more important, why Wharton is right path \u2013 how you connect your actual learning\/growth needs with Wharton\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n

\u2022 They get excited, ultimately, about applicants they can really \u201csee in the program.\u201d<\/a> They want doers. NOTE: This is a great \u201cguiding star\u201d for how to approach your Wharton application.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, they have revamped their recommendation approach completely. They talked to about 1,200 recommenders and companies\/recruiters in an effort to make recommendations a better evaluation tool. Their new approach: offer two lists of positive traits and ask the recommenders to select three from each list that best describe the applicant. The premise is that this approach requires recommenders to make a decision. Then, they ask two questions, requesting examples illustrating why they think the applicant will do well (a) in the Wharton classroom and (b) in their career.<\/p>\n

All Wharton adcom readers read applications from all regions, industries, etc., and they receive bias training to be able to evaluate without bias.<\/p>\n

Finally, we gained some insight into the Team-Based Discussion (TBD)<\/a> component of the application. It\u2019s not binary (i.e., did well = admitted, did poorly = rejected); rather, the adcom reviews the whole application again, incorporating the TBD evaluation. In fact, they\u2019ve been rigorously evaluating their own TBD process by running analytics on the process for five years on the back end. The aim is to ensure lack of bias and a process doesn\u2019t favor extroverts over introverts, and does deliver gender balance. They do admit to \u201ctweaking\u201d to \u201cnormalize\u201d before going to committee. At the end of the year, they use data analytics to provide feedback to evaluators on their own performance on these parameters.<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/strong> the adcom not only seeks rigor in its applicants; they apply rigor to themselves.<\/p>\n

\"Register<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Cindy<\/a><\/em>Cindy Tokumitsu<\/a>\u00a0has advised hundreds of successful applicants, helping them gain acceptance to top MBA and EMBA programs in her 15+ years with Accepted. She would love to help you too. Want Cindy to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Why MBA<\/a>, a free guide to writing about MBA goals
\n\u2022 From Wall St to Wharton, While Starting Wall Street Oasis<\/a>, a podcast episode
\n\u2022 Wharton MBA Application Essay Tips & Deadlines<\/a><\/p>\n

This article<\/a>\u00a0originally appeared on\u00a0<\/i>blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where to apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.<\/p>\n

Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help\u00a0you\u00a0<\/i>get accepted<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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